Twenty Colours
by Jazz4
Summary: Enterprise and its crew, as observed by some unseen neighbours.


Title: Twenty Colours  
Author: Jazz  
Rated: G  
Category: General   
Disclaimer: Ideas, themes and characters owned by Paramount; all liberties taken are the author's own.  
Summary: Enterprise, the ship and its crew, as observed by some unseen neighbours.    
Author's note: Apologies in advance, if this seems to be without any 'story'. It just an exercise in words.

Twenty Colours

~~

by Jazz

They saw them coming, and it was a fantastic sight.

This ship was a curious shape, a bulbous, whale-like grey mass, sprinkled with lines and twinkling lights, but with a sleek profile, which softened its passage so that it travelled through space with the fluidity of an eel. Characters and numerals stretched across the upturned face: NX-01. Enterprise. The first of its kind to travel so far.

They watched as it neared their cloaked vessel, and wondered how deep into the galaxy the humans could swim.

Keen to observe, they slipped aboard, knowing they would remain undetected. The humans had no need to fear them. Their curiosity was as benign as it was strong.

So they watched them, uninhibited, one by one, as they went about their normal duties.

First, a man. He was not human, they guessed correctly, but some species with a particular fondness for joviality and laughter. He was clothed in pale blue, which seemed a great contrast to his brightly coloured personality. They watched him amble about the perimeter of the room designated to heal the sick, making various noises whilst opening and shutting cages. 

_Now, now, one at a time. No need to be greedy._

Then to the mess, where a cacophony of talk and laughter was interlaced with the metallic chimes of cutlery upon crockery, and where humans sat in groups of four, five, two, one. They watched a pair argue. Voices forceful and yet playful, enthusiastically talking on top of one another, in between hasty stabs at the meals laid out before them.

_You can't be serious! _

Voices mingled like helixes. The two men sitting at one side of the table wore bemused expressions; one grinned openly and tilted his head back to laugh once again; the other kept his arms folded, but his eyes had warmth in them as he gazed across to the third in their group.

A young woman, hair as black as a raven's wing, laughed as she raised a fork at her companions.

_No way! Is that what he told you?_

_Don't you believe me? Wait till you hear what he said then…_

To the unseen watchers, their talk was inconsequential, but their emotions were everything, and they saw it in the colours before them: the black of the woman's hair, and the brown and blue of the men's eyes. They heard it in the tone of their voices, and sensed that, in this moment in time, these humans were _happy_.

And so they moved through the decks. Into the slipstream of one man's path they found themselves; he was walking with a companion, a small creature, chestnut and white, to which he gave encouraging noises. _Hey, boy, you hanging out for a good walk?_ The man offered this animal a constant, one-sided conversation, and he continued in this way as if it were the most natural thing in the world. His watchers, meanwhile, accepted it as human behaviour, and left the pair on their way.

They neared the hub of the starship, where the engine core glistened magenta and purred underfoot, and where two members of the crew were engaged in a heated battle of words.

_Do you wish to perform my job for me, Commander?_

The Vulcan stared, evenly and unblinking. Her eyes were fluid and drawn, brown like earth in their feline stillness. Lips parted as if to breathe, but they saw her draw in air through the nostrils, and sensed that she wished to say more, but was unwilling to give this man satisfaction. Her body was all sharp angles, blunt fringe and curled fingers at the small of her back. But she stood like a statue, and seemed content to exist in that state for eternity.

Her companion, by contrast, was in a constant state of movement. Arms all of a flurry, he was only too eager to talk back, his speech peppered with strange turns of phrase. But there was no bitterness to his words. They sensed he was more interested in drawing out a flash of expression from those still eyes. It was his nature, just as it was hers.

So they left this pair to their war of words; to flash, reach, occasionally hit but mostly miss. To live out their lives on this ship in a world with a distinct undercurrent of heat, of flirtation, and of deep tenderness.

As to the remainder of the crew - they spoilt these aliens with their rich idiosyncrasies. But that was it; there was nothing of great technology or science here that could be of interest to them. So far behind, and so far to go.

But they had come further than what lay ahead; their visitors knew that. Soon, this ship's people would discover truths unknown about their meaning, their existence, and their significance.

But that was then. This was now. 

_Space is big_. A Vulcan said that, once. She knew of all before her.

They left Enterprise alone to play out its lot, as a tiny ant would in ground which lay further than it ever knew.

END


End file.
